Ask the Experts from the AFCC eNEWS: Guidance from Leading Family Law Professionals www.afccnet.org Ask the Experts from the AFCC eNEWS: Guidance from Leading Family Law Professionals Edited by: Andrea Clark, MSW Larry V. Swall, JD October 2015 Copyright© Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. All rights reserved. This publication may be reproduced and disseminated without modification, for educational purposes. ASK THE EXPERTS | 1 CONTENTS Introduction 5 Top Ten Tips for New Parenting Coordinators (February 2008) 6 Christine A. Coates, MEd, JD, Robin M. Deutsch, PhD, Barbara Jo Fidler, PhD, Joan B. Kelly, PhD, Arnold Shienvold, PhD, and Matthew J. Sullivan, PhD Top Ten Tips for Interviewing Children for Custody Evaluations (April 2008) 7 Kathleen Clark, PhD, Leslie M. Drozd, PhD, Jonathan Gould, PhD, ABPP, Mindy F. Mitnick, EdM, MA, Kathy Kuehnle, PhD, and Philip M. Stahl, PhD, ABPP Top Ten Tips for Reducing Work Stress (June 2008) 8 Vicki Carpel Miller, MS, LMFT, and Ellie Izzo, PhD Top Ten Tips for Mediators to Move through Emotions (August 2008) 9 Sue Bronson, MS Ten Ethical Considerations for Parenting Coordinators (September 2008) 10 Linda B. Fieldstone, MEd, and Nina M. Zollo, Esq. Ten Tips for Judges and Judicial Officers in Matters with Self-Represented Parties (October 2008) 11 Hon. Emile R. Kruzick, Hon. David R. Aston, Hon. Peter Boshier, and Hon. Hugh E. Starnes Ten Tips for Separated and Divorced Families for the Holidays (November 2008) 12 Peg Libby Ten Risk Management Tips for Child Custody Evaluators (December 2008) 13 David A. Martindale, PhD, ABPP Top Ten Tips on Court Program and Community Collaborations (January 2009) 15 Linda B. Fieldstone, MEd, Hon. Sandy Karlan, and Hon. Judith L. Kreeger Top Ten Things a Family Court Judge Should Remember (February 2009) 17 Hon. William C. Fee and Hon. Denise Herman McColley Ten Tips for Parents About Children and Divorce (March 2009) 18 Jennifer McIntosh, PhD Top Ten Things to Consider When Developing a Parenting Plan (April 2009) 20 FLAFCC Parenting Plans Taskforce Top Ten Tips for Managing Personality-Disorder People (May 2009) 22 William A. Eddy, LCSW, Esq., CFLS Top Ten Ways to Protect Your Kids from the Fallout of a High Conflict Break-Up (June 2009) 24 Joan B. Kelly, PhD Top Ten Ways to Assess “Is Collaborative Practice Right for Me?” (July 2009) 26 Nancy Cameron, LLB Top Ten Features of Models of Brief Focused Assessments (August 2009) 28 Linda M. Cavallero, PhD Ten Tips for Setting Up A Court Connected ADR Program (September 2009) 30 David P. Levin, JD Ten Tips for Success in Resolving Parenting Disputes (October 2009) 31 Hon. Harvey P. Brownstone, LLB Continued ASK THE EXPERTS | 2 Top Ten Resources of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (November 2009) 34 Ten Practice Tips from the AFCC Task Force on Court-Involved Therapists (January 2010) 35 Lyn R. Greenberg, PhD, ABPP Top Ten Useful and Possibly Distracting Websites (February 2010) 37 Annette T. Burns, JD Top Ten Tips for Fostering Children’s Resilience after Divorce (March 2010) 38 JoAnne L. Pedro-Carroll, PhD, MA, MEd Top Ten Tips for Using an Unbundled Approach to Expand Your Services and Build Your Practice 40 (April 2010) Forrest S. Mosten, JD Top Ten Mediation Screening Questions (May 2010) 42 Grace M. Hawkins, MSW Top Ten Tips to Have a Successful Collaborative Practice Outcome in Family Cases (July 2010) 44 Sherri Goren Slovin, JD Top Ten Biases Often Overlooked by Child Custody Evaluators (August 2010) 45 David A. Martindale, PhD, ABPP Ten Tips for Cross-Examining a Child Custody Evaluator (September 2010) 47 Timothy M. Tippins, JD Ten Tips for Surviving Cross-Examinations (September 2010) 49 Timothy M. Tippins, JD Ten Steps on the Path to Stepfamily Happiness (October 2010) 51 Leslie Todd, LCSW, ACSW Top Ten Ways to Reach Out to the Self-Represented (December 2010) 52 Pamela Cardullo Ortiz, JD Child Support—Did You Know? (January 2011) 54 Cindy Holdren Top Ten Things Family Law Professionals Should Know about Child Development (February 2011) 56 David Finn, PsyD Ten Points of Consideration for Family Law Professionals about the Voice of the Child (March 2011) 58 Lorraine Martin, MSW, RSW Ten of the Toughest Challenges in Parenting Coordination Work (April 2011) 59 Christine A. Coates, MEd, JD, Robin M. Deutsch, PhD, and Matthew J. Sullivan, PhD Ten Tips for Legal and Mental Health Professionals Involved in Alienation, or Alleged Alienation 61 Cases (May 2011) Barbara Jo Fidler, PhD, Nicholas Bala, JD, LLM, and Michael Saini, PhD Creating a Circuit-Supported Family Program (June 2011) 63 Linda B. Fieldstone, MEd, and Michelle Artman-Smith Ten Reasons the Hague Abduction Convention May Not Be Enough (July 2011) 64 Leslie E. Shear, JD Top Ten Tips for Judicial Interviews of Children (August 2011) 66 Hon. Denise Herman McColley Top Ten Questions to Ask When Selecting a Supervised Visitation Provider (October 2011) 68 Joseph J. Nullet and Judy L. Newman, MSW Ten Tips for the Holidays (November 2011) 70 Robin M. Deutsch, PhD Top Ten Tips for Dealing with Relocation Cases (December 2011) 71 Philip M. Stahl, PhD, ABPP Continued ASK THE EXPERTS | 3 Top Ten Tips for Handling Child Custody Cases Involving Domestic Violence (January 2012) 73 Loretta Frederick, JD, and Gabrielle Davis, JD Ten Things to Enhance Social Media Success for Family Law Professionals (February 2012) 75 Annette T. Burns, JD Top Ten Tips for Psychological Testing in Child Custody Evaluations (March 2012) 76 David Medoff, PhD Ten Tips for Our Most Challenging Family Mediation Cases (April 2012) 78 Christine A. Coates, MEd, JD Top Ten Tips for Professionals Appointed to Conduct a Child Custody Evaluation Accompanied by 80 Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse (May 2012) Kathryn Kuehnle, PhD Top Ten Ethical Issues in Forensic Consulting (June 2012) 82 Robert A. Simon, PhD Ten Tips for Practitioners Using Social Science Research (July 2012) 85 Marsha Kline Pruett, PhD, MSL Top Ten Tips for When to Withdraw as Parenting Coordinator (August 2012) 87 Siri Gottlieb, MSW, JD, Gary Direnfeld, MSW, and Christine A. Coates, MEd, JD Research in a Strained System—When and How Can it Be Useful? 89 Top Ten Tips to Help Professionals Use Research Effectively (September 2012) Lyn R. Greenberg, PhD, ABPP, Leslie M. Drozd, PhD, and Mary Catherine M. Bohen Ten Tips for Judicial Officers Dealing with Self-Represented Litigants in Family Court (November 2012) 92 Michael J. Dwyer, JD Ten Tips for Developing Parenting Plans for Special Needs Children (December 2012) 94 Daniel B. Pickar, PhD, ABPP, and Robert L. Kaufman, PhD Ten Tips for Doing Forensic Addictions Evaluations (February 2013) 96 Robert L. Lang, LPC, LAC Ten Tips for Professionals: Using Online Communication in an Ethically Responsible Manner 99 (March 2013) Allan E. Barsky, MSW, PhD, JD Ten Rules for Settlement Negotiations (April 2013) 102 Gregg M. Herman, JD Ten Tips for Engaging People in Conversation (July 2013) 105 Sue Bronson, MS, and Rebecca T. Magruder, MSW, JD Professional Self-Care: Ten Tips for a Quality of Life Check (August 2013) 107 Leslie Todd, LCSW, ACSW Top Ten Tips for Interviewing Adolescents (September 2013) 109 Mindy F. Mitnick, EdM, MA Ten Tips for Developing and Drafting Effective Parenting Plans in Mediation (October 2013) 111 Donald T. Saposnek, PhD Ten Tips for Professionals on Domestic Violence and Cultural Contexts in Asian Communities 115 (December 2013) Chic Dabby Ten Serious Errors Made by Custody Evaluators (February 2014) 118 David A. Martindale, PhD, ABPP, and Jeffrey P. Wittmann, PhD Top Ten Tips When a Child is Resisting or Rejecting Contact with a Parent (March 2014) 120 Robin M. Deutsch, PhD, and Matthew J. Sullivan, PhD Ten Tips for Lawyers When the Other Party is Self-Represented (April 2014) 121 Annette T. Burns, JD Ten Tips for Writing High Quality and Helpful Custody Evaluation Reports (August 2014) 123 Robert L. Kaufman, PhD, and Daniel B. Pickar, PhD, ABPP Continued ASK THE EXPERTS | 4 Ten Reasons to Reconsider NOT Using the Rorschach in Your Child Custody Evaluations 125 (August 2014) Robert E. Erard, PhD Ten Considerations for Using Gatekeeping to Assess and Describe Family Dynamics 129 (September 2014) Leslie M. Drozd, PhD, Nancy W. Olesen, PhD, and Michael Saini, PhD Ten Tips for Preparing for and Trying Relocation Cases: The Legal Perspective (October 2014) 131 Hon. Mark A. Juhas and Michael J. Kretzmer, JD Ten Tips for Online Mediators: All Mediators are Online Mediators (November 2014) 135 Clare E. Fowler, EdD Ten Tips for Client Engagement (December 2014) 139 William A. Eddy, LCSW, Esq., CFLS What is the Biggest Challenge Facing Conflict Professionals Today? (January 2015) 141 Bernard S. Mayer, PhD Ten Tips to Save Money Using Your Parenting Coordinator (February 2015) 144 Annette T. Burns, JD Tips for Unbundling Your Family Practice: 2015 (March 2015) 146 Forrest S. Mosten, JD Top Ten Tips for Helping Parents Keep Children Out of the Middle (April 2015) 150 Mindy F. Mitnick, EdM, MA, and Zachary A. Kretchmer, JD Ten Tips for Working with Interpreters and Translators in a Court Setting (May 2015) 153 Grace M. Hawkins, MSW, and Hon. Emile R. Kruzick Low-Income and Never-Married Fathers and Families: Context and Perspective for Service and 155 Support (July 2015) Jacquelyn L. Boggess, JD Courthouse Facility Dogs—An Innovation to Improve Services for Your Clients (August 2015) 157 Ellen O’Neill-Stephens, JD Top Ten Reasons to Support a CASA Volunteer Program (Court Appointed Special Advocates) 160 (September 2015) Doug Stephens 162 Index ASK THE EXPERTS | 5 Introduction Ask the Experts from the AFCC eNEWS: Guidance from Leading Family Law Professionals Since 1963, the Association of Family and Conciliation This publication represents decades of expertise con- Courts (AFCC) has provided an interdisciplinary forum tributed by AFCC members to the AFCC NEWS and for judges, lawyers, mental health and dispute resolu- AFCC eNEWS.